How's it going? Did you get that card I sent you for your birthday?
I have decided to use MY first post in the Senator Blogosphere to give y0u all a taste of our (well, at least my) Senator opinions on a few "hot-button" issues. Since it's my first ever post, and I have a few things I need to get off my chest, this will be a bit of a rant. Excited? No? Good, here we go
Jason Spezza: He's good. I like him. I feel he has received unfair treatment in the media, and that the criticism he receives is often unfounded or over-blown. Yeah, he turns the puck over at some inopportune times. And it would be nice if he dropped the self-laugh he's got going on in interviews. However, the offensive creativity he brings to the table is a rare commodity, one we would be remiss to give up on due to some correctable failings. As anyone who has been within 100 yards of a copy of the Ottawa Sun this season knows, there has been a

Bryan Murray: Similarly, many fans and media pundits have questioned the job security of General Manager Bryan Murray through the team's struggles. Let's get some things straight here. Bryan Murray did not build the core of these Ottawa Senators. He did not pillage their farm system. He didn't pass on Chara in favour of Redden. All of these moves are the handiwork of the name-droppingest GM in Senator franchise history, John Muckler. I

While Murray's moves have not been knock-you-on-your-ass amazing, he can't be held responsible for the team's current underlying weaknesses. He only took over as GM a year and a half ago which is not enough time time to effect substantial change. Murray built the foundation of that Ducks team that won the cup in 2007, as well as the Panthers team that made it to the Stanley Cup final in their third season in 1996. FUN FACT: Murray also had a hand in building the Detroit Red Wings while he was both coachand GM from 1990-1994, when he drafted players like Chris Osgood, Martin Lapointe, and Darren McCarty in late rounds. Murray has a strong track record and GMs need a few years to put their plan in to action, let's give the man some time before we get our the torches and pitchforks.
Mike Fisher: I'll keep this short and sweet. He's having a tough start, but his skating, physical play, effort level, and traditionally adequate offensive production render his $4.2M cap hit reasonable. If some other GM offers the moon for him, he naturally becomes expendible, but he certainly doesn't hurt the team to the point where we should panic and trade him while his value is low.
Team Struggles: The team isn't as good as it once was talent-wise, plain and simple. Making a trade or two will not fix the team's underlying issues: a lack of forward depth, an immobile, offensively barren defence corps, and stop-gap solution goaltending. Trades for the likes of Jay Bouwmeester and Mattias Ohlund would further diminish the team's fledgling core of secondary scorers and/or prospects. The team has played sub .500 hockey for a calendar year now, despite major personnel changes in that time. Unless an amazing trade offer comes along, I'd like to see the team stick it out, and try to improve from within. If the team continues down it's current path, the time is right for a minor rebuild. They already have two first round picks in this year's draft, Filip Kuba and Chris Neil are in contract years and might have some trade value, while several players have deals that expire July 1st 2010. Heatley and Spezza are under contract until 2014 and 2015 respectively, so they will still be around when the club is back in contention. The club could move out players who won't be key cogs post-rebuild, stockpile some draft picks and prospects, and use the cap space to bring in the right free agent if the opportunity presents itself. If everything goes smoothly, the team could be back in the playoff picture by 2011-2012. I'm still not convinced this kind of situation will be necessary, but it sounds a lot better than the oft-proposed trading of Spezza, Vermette and picks for what amount to rental players or significant downgrades.
Wasn't that fun? Sens and Leafs Thursday. Shotgun live blogging it Jay Onrait stylz.
3 comments:
Great new addition to the BoO blogsphere. You guys look like you got a good thing going hope you can keep it up. Notice you called shotgun on a live blog of the game thursday night... interested in joinning some members of the OBC to ham it up? If so drop me an email I can fire you the invite. You should find my email in my proflie as well as my blog. Welcome to the blogsphere my friend.
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